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This test consists of 15 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Which of the following contributed to making colonialism alive and relevant?
(a) Imperial takeover.
(b) Native acceptance.
(c) Catholicism.
(d) Violence.

2. Why was Diaz's regime in a precarious position regarding positivist philosophy?
(a) Because it could not afford to support such a philosophy when the regime itself was so new.
(b) Because it adopted rather than fathered the philosophy.
(c) Because the common people vehemently opposed the philosophy.
(d) Because only about half the regime favored the philosophy.

3. Why is a study of colonialism important in understanding Mexican history?
(a) The nation's beginnings were heavily influenced by North Americans.
(b) The nation was founded through a peaceful Spanish immersion into Indian culture.
(c) The nation was founded by a Spanish conquest of Indians.
(d) The nation began through the colonization of several surrounding nations.

4. What did the Spaniards find when they arrived in South America?
(a) Autonomous, refined civilizations.
(b) Scattered groups of people.
(c) A single ruling power.
(d) Uneducated, struggling clans.

5. What metaphor does Paz use to describe Mexico taking control from Spain?
(a) A lion cub overtaking its elderly parent.
(b) A phoenix rising from the ashes.
(c) A young man finally realizing his strength.
(d) A corpse dismembered and a nation born.

6. How did liberalism and democracy function in South American countries?
(a) As the breath of fresh air, politically speaking.
(b) As a veneer for the workings of colonialism.
(c) As the new structure of governments around the continent.
(d) As an impetus to move the countries into modernity.

7. Why was unemployment high in Mexico at the time that Paz was writing?
(a) The economy was going through a recession.
(b) The population grew more quickly than industry.
(c) The labor unions made it difficult for workers to get jobs.
(d) The two biggest factories were experiencing lay-offs.

8. According to Jorge Cuesta, how has Mexico created herself?
(a) In opposition to her past.
(b) With an eye toward preventing civil war.
(c) In agreement with her past.
(d) With no regard for the common people.

9. According to Paz, what is the "contemporary crisis"? (Chapter Seven, page 172).
(a) The crisis of self-identity sweeping South America.
(b) The difficulty of Mexico relating to the advancing western world.
(c) The struggle between two diverse cultures.
(d) A struggle within a culture that no longer has any rivals.

10. Who authored. the book, Profile of Man and Culture in Mexico?
(a) Jorge Scheler.
(b) Jorge Cuesta.
(c) Christophe Adler.
(d) Samuel Ramos.

11. What should Mexicans recognize about their alienation from the world?
(a) It is shared by many people around the world.
(b) It can be reversed only by a charismatic leader.
(c) It is unique to their country.
(d) It has managed to cut them off completely.

12. What economic goal did the Revolution have?
(a) To establish commerce and industry.
(b) To improve the commerce that had already been established.
(c) To free Mexico from dependence on Spain.
(d) To pull the nation out of poverty.

13. According to Paz, what philosophical fact defines much of Mexico's history?
(a) The people adopted some ideas and invented others.
(b) The people adopted ideas, but did not invent their own.
(c) They had only two great thinkers.
(d) They overturned several of Spain's philosophical treatises.

14. According to Trotsky, what should happen if the Revolution does not break out in advanced nations following World War II?
(a) Socialism should be abandoned altogether.
(b) The Marxist view of history should be revised.
(c) The Marxist view of economics should be revised.
(d) Socialism should be forced on those nations.

15. In Paz's estimation, why do the common people follow their revolutionary leaders?
(a) They identify with the men.
(b) They are intimidated by the leaders.
(c) They have no desire to upset the progress of the Revolution.
(d) They believe in the revolution, regardless of who leads it.

Short Answer Questions

1. What was one factor that guided the Revolution to prioritize tradition?

2. Why have Mexican culture and politics vacillated from one extreme to another? (Chapter Seven, page 157).

3. What did Manuel Gomez-Morin accomplish for the Revolution?

4. What important circumstance did early revolutionary governments not take into account?

5. What horror did Cortez's rule not commit?

(see the answer keys)

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